Outsource It!

The Rural United States

You don’t need to travel to Asia, eastern Europe, and Latin America to find skilled, low-cost IT staff. A trip to many cities in the American Midwest can yield surprisingly similar results, at least at first glance.

Because of a lower cost of living and lower wages, rural outsourcing, or “onshoring” as it’s sometimes called, can often compete with India and China when it comes to the total cost of outsourcing. In fact, compared to major US urban locations, rural America often works at rates 25–50 percent lower than their big-city counterparts. In the last few years, several outsourcing startups have appeared in Nebraska, Montana, and Minnesota.

In addition to competitively priced employees, the elimination of cultural ...